Heated
by galliechan
Summary: Prince Hao turned and looked at them; his family, his friends, his army, his people. His eyes were shining like the fire behind him; dangerous, deadly, madly. None of them knew what to do in that moment. AU, HaoYoh


Disclaimer: The Shaman King manga is the property of its creator, Hiroyuki Takei. The Shaman King anime is the property of their authorised owners. This short story is created by the author. All original settings, characters, etc. remain the property of the author.

Heated

A Shaman King fanfic  
by Galliechan  
© Copyright 2008

The view was terrifying.

None of them was able to move a muscle yet. The magicians didn't have time to utter a single spell. And now after seeing this scene, they couldn't find the power to do so.

The enemy army was burning down; the screams of the soldiers were mixing with the cracking of the enormous fire and the army that was meant to defend their city was looking horror-stricken to the figure that created the fire. 

Tao Ren, one of the strongest magicians of the country, was trying his hardest not to shake from fear. A glance showed that his fellow magicians were in similar a condition as well, some couldn't even able to hide it anymore while the others just looked to the scene with wide eyes and pale faces.

None of them was sure how long they remained like this, watching people crying and burning while a black smoke rose. It was only after the man in front of them moved that they noticed the passage of time.

Prince Hao slowly turned. 

He turned his back to the enemy he destroyed and faced his people. His eyes slowly travelled to his family – even his mother and grandparents had come – then his friends who were still holding their weapons and the rest of the soldiers. After finishing their tour, his eyes rested on his father, and a smirk appeared on his lips.

"Hao." King Mikihisa stopped; he couldn't find anything to say. The one in front of him was not his son, it couldn't be. The light in his eyes was...murderous.

"Is there a problem, dad?" His voice was in his everyday tone; calm, collected and in control. His posture was relaxed like this was just a daily conversation about weather.

He was behaving so normally that in this situation, it was eerie.

"Why – What did you do, Hao?" The king was trying to approach calmly to his son.

"Got rid of that guys and their pitiful excuse of an army. It was a suitable ending for them." The last part was hissed, he frowned angrily. "Anyway, our city is not under a siege anymore." He added, returning back to his neutral expression quickly.

"It's your anger talking right now. I knew you was angry for the siege but – "

"But what? Our army is here to attack the enemy, isn't it? You wanted to destroy their army, and I just did it. What is the problem?" There was a cold undertone to his voice.

There was a silence as the Asakuras thought what to say. Obviously, Hao was getting angry and he was still not himself; the dangerous glow was still in his eyes. None of them was sure their fate wouldn't be like the enemy's if they got him angry.

Ren was observing the situation intently. How did Hao get so powerful suddenly? It was a known fact that Prince Hao was a strong magician. Yet, as his best friend, he was sure the prince didn't have enough power to flame an entire army in minutes and look like he just did his warm-ups. The only thing he found out was, the obvious one, Hao lost his control and he was somehow controlled by it now.

And the only reason for it looked like, his anger. His increasing anger towards the enemy who laid a siege to their city. Even though their city had enough food, drink or firewood to withstand it for a year, his anger towards them was enormous. None of his friends understood why the man, who could remain his calm in the most dangerous situations, was burning with such hatred and rage.

"The problem is how you did it, Hao." came the careful reply.

"'_How'?_ Why it is important 'how' I did it, the result is the same."

"No, 'how' has an extreme importance. You act like you forgot about honor, son! You're not behaving like yourself!" The former-king Yohmei shouted.

"You're not yourself, my son. Return back to normal." added his grandmother calmly.

"Normal?" his eyes glinted dangerously, "What is normal?" 

"Normal is not how you're behaving right now." The old man spoke, "Normal is not burning down an entire army and looking to your people as if they are enemies."

His response was a cold laughter from the prince. "You're just sad that you couldn't fight? You wanted to destroy the army and it is destroyed. Why do you complain, I don't understand?"

The old man looked to his grandson with angry eyes. He was about to give a harsh reply but his daughter started before him.

"Please, Hao!" she sobbed, "It's over now, return back to yourself."

"And, how do you know this is not myself?" was the unfeeling reply. He was still calm and his posture was relaxed; however his expression was filled with malice. His eyes were shining with fire, the deadly fire that kept on burning behind him. He chuckled coldly as his mother's sobbing increased.

"Whatever possessed you I don't know, but get out of his body!" shouted Yohmei.

"Possessed?" he mockingly gasped, "I don't like to be ordered, don't even try old man." 

"You're threatening your family?"

"Threatening?" he smiled cruelly, one of his hands started to flame slowly, "If you take it like that, it's your choice."

"You know that any threats to the royal family – "

"Yeah, yeah. Will be eliminated, right? Who will eliminate me, old man? These puny looking magicians or scared shitless soldiers? Do you believe they stand a chance against me?"

For the first time since the start of the conversation, he took his eyes off his family and looked to the magicians. He laughed seeing that they had their weapons ready.

"You really want to fight against me?" he smirked, "Hm? Ren? Horohoro? You're willing to throw away your lives for this family?"

Horohoro gulped, still holding his weapon ready. Ren just narrowed his eyes. None of them believed the one in front of them was their friend. Yet, they didn't move. They weren't able to win against him in trainings; they knew they stood no chance against him when he was mad and insanely powerful. 

"See! My dear family! You don't have anyone to protect you!" He laughed loudly and wildly, the murderous glow in his eyes apparent. 

Everybody in the field listened to his laughter with dread, not knowing that will happen next. His family tried not to make him angry but it didn't work. As his anger increased, their already high fear level increased as well. It was because of this numbing fear that they didn't notice the small figure moving between them slowly.

"Hao, stop please."

The laughter stopped suddenly and every eye turned to the speaker. 

"My family is complete at last. Welcome dear brother. You are late."

"Yoh!" Keiko ran to her son and hugged him tightly, tears still sliding on her cheeks.

"What do you think you're doing here, boy?" asked his grandfather tensely.

The thin and pale prince could just give them a small smile; he was breathing heavily because of the walk from the palace to the battlefield.

"He is right, you know. What do you think you can to against me, faint on me?" Hao chuckled, "You look like you will die even without my help."

Ren and Horohoro, for a moment, took their eyes from the mad prince to the pale one. This was their first time seeing him, along with most of the people on the field. For all the years they worked in the palace, they had never seen him before. At least, they knew of his existence because of their friendship with Prince Hao, many of the people didn't even know the prince has a twin.

And, this said twin looked sick. Actually, so sick and deathly pale that they agreed with his brother; he was hardly standing on his own. What was he doing here, they thought, he, probably, had to be in his bed.

Yoh, after catching his breath as much as he could, slipped out of his mother's embrace and began walking towards his brother. It was obvious he was trying really hard to do it; he was shaking, pausing before each step not to fall and was sweating from its effort.

"You have guts, I admit. What will you do once you reach me?"

"Oh. I forgot." He stopped and looked to the eyes of his twin. He was wobbling but didn't mind it; he took a shaky breath and smiled good-heartedly. "I am Yoh Asakura. Nice to meet you, Spirit of Fire."

"Wha – How?"

"But, still, I want my brother back, if you don't mind."

There was silence following his sentence, and then Hao started to laugh hysterically.

"You're amusing, boy. I like you." 

"Thanks." He started walking towards his brother again.

"However, I won't give your brother back."

"Why?" he whined.

"I like this body." Hao smirked.

"Oh, yeah. I can understand that. It is a great body, right?" he smiled like he received a compliment, "I have the same body! You know, since we are identical twins. Well, not the _exactly_ same body because he has a birth mark on his arm while I have one on my leg by still, we're identical enou – "

"What are you blabbing about!"

"You and me. Us!"

"There's no such thing as 'us'!"

"You're mean. Of course there is! You're my brother!" he was talking loudly as well, although not as aloud as Hao.

"And I said I won't give him back."

"But I'll get him back!"

"No, you won't!"

"Yes, I will!"

"No, you won't!"

The others watched in shock as the meaningless argument continued. They weren't sure what the younger prince wanted to do but making Hao angry didn't sound like a good idea. He was losing his patience with each sentence and was shouting each reply with enough malice to freeze their blood. Yet, Yoh looked like it didn't affect him at all.

"I will!"

"You won't!"

"Wow! You lose your control so easily. I thought thousands of years old spirits of elements would have more patience." Hao stopped in mid sentence, for a moment his eyes widened for what he had done but the next moment he was looking at Yoh even more anger and a clear death sentence. Yet, none of these anger and threats worked on Yoh, he continued talking with a smile, "Though maybe it is because you are fire. Heh, we're having a heated argument!" he tried to laugh to his own joke but could only cough weakly.

The sick man was still walking shakily towards him. The relaxed composure and in control behavior was no longer, Hao was fuming; he was shaking from hardly suppressed anger, his eyes were shining with lots of emotions, none of them healthy to the annoying man in front of him. Yoh's every word was making him even angrier, making him lose his control more.

Hao looked to the eyes of the other. The hot rage met with soft calmness. The hatred met with sympathy, trust and love. One pair of the identical eyes widened; there was understanding in the other pair. And anticipation, _everything I did was expected by him_, Hao thought panicked. He had lost his control over his emotions and behaviors and walked directly into the other's trap. Yoh knew how he would behave when angry and he also knew how to make him angry.

"Get away from me or I will kill you right now!" he shouted; it was too late. Looking to those eyes, he couldn't collect himself and calm down.

"Why? As you said, I am deadly ill already; you can only fasten it." He didn't stop walking.

Hao took a step backwards, "If you don't want me to burn you to ashes right now, stop walking!"

"I don't care." Yoh reached Hao and touched his shoulder. "I want my brother back."

Many of the people closed their eyes or turned their head not to look at to the next scene. Poor, stupid guy who aggravated such a dangerous man. They waited for a loud scream or the cruel laughter of the prince but none came, just a few gasps. Slowly they opened their eyes and looked to the scene only to see, two princes kissing each other.

Asakuras watched in horror. Their hearts were already beating fast from the fear Hao caused to them but this scene…This was a totally different kind of fear; because they could easily see that this kiss was not brotherly.

No, not at all. The kiss was too intimate, too deep and too passionate to be brotherly. Too heated. Their bodies were as close as they could get, their hands exploring the other's body, playing with other's hair or grasping the other's shirt. No, this kiss was definitely between lovers.

A few seconds later, another wave of shock hit them because their movements made it obvious that this relationship was not new; these kinds of kisses were not rare. Neither of the twins was shy or hesitant. Yoh knew where to put his hands on Hao's developed muscles while Hao knew how to support Yoh's fragile body.

Gradually, twins broke their kiss; one breathing heavily and depending on the other to stand while the other looked with wide but clear eyes around, mouth slightly opened in shock.

A few breaths later, Hao hugged his brother, his lover tightly. He couldn't find any words to say, thank you didn't seem enough; but Yoh understood. He always understood; he never needed words from the other.

Hao heard a weak chuckle and looked down, "I said I will get you back." His twin smiled at him. He smiled back; it was after a moment that he noticed where he was and who he was holding. 

"Yoh! You're deathly pale! You shouldn't be out of bed!" he shouted, and panicked even more when the other didn't answer. It was when he was frantically searching for his twin's pulse that all the other people in the field sighed in relief. The real Prince Hao was back; that unfamiliar, murderous and mad person in the body of their prince was gone. 

They were so happy that none of them was bothered by the apparent relationship between the brothers. Some of them even 'aww'ed when Hao murmured "Don't worry Yoh, the siege is over. We can buy your medicine from now on." while running. People didn't mind their affiliation.

That is, other than the Asakuras. They were still in shock even after Hao took Yoh in his arms and carried him hurriedly to the palace, never looking behind him. And, this shock would remain for a long time on them, the shock of learning the princes were together, in a relationship that is not brotherly at all, for god knows how long.


End file.
